Why do you charge organizations a fee to fundraise using GiveMN.org?

It’s a well-known reality for nonprofits and schools that isn’t often talked about outside of fundraising circles: it costs money to raise money. GiveMN does not charge organizations any upfront subscription costs to use our fundraising platform, but we charge a competitive 6.9% processing fee on donations to cover the costs associated with credit card processing, our technology platform, and the work we do to ignite generosity and grow giving in Minnesota.

Like many of the organizations we support, GiveMN is a small nonprofit with a big mission. Our funders have challenged us to become more sustainable and to rely less on foundation support. By diversifying our revenue, we ensure that GiveMN will be able to continue to support our nonprofit and schools into the future. The money we receive goes directly back into our mission to grow giving in Minnesota in a number of ways:

Part of the revenue will go directly back to Minnesota nonprofits by funding incentive prizes during giving events.

Revenue will also be invested in Give to the Max Day, which continues to raise millions of dollars for thousands of organizations each year.

org is essentially 10,000 individual websites, one for each of the Minnesota organizations raising money. With that large of a scope, and the need to process more than a transaction every second on Give to the Max Day, we must continue to invest in a platform that will provide a stable, secure and engaging experience for donors around the world.

The revenue will also support our strategic work to become more of a fundraising partner and capacity builder for organizations across Minnesota, while continually investing in a dynamic and stable platform on GiveMN.org.